


For Want of Canned Tuna

by leftofrevolution



Series: For Want Of [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 04:12:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3836593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leftofrevolution/pseuds/leftofrevolution
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place about a year after 'For Want of Eternal Sun.' P'Li makes friends with some cats.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Want of Canned Tuna

**Author's Note:**

> Someone wanted P'Li and cats in 'For Want Of'-verse.

It wasn’t the Fire Nation, but Zaofu at high noon during the height of summer was hot enough that she could forgive the lack of humidity. The animals were also an improvement; as nice as the beaches, jungles, and seas of the Fire Nation islands had been, there was always something venomous lurking under every rock and leaf, which had made it difficult to relax. Ming-Hua nearly tripping and falling into a spider snake nest less than a week after their stranding and only a hundred feet from where they had originally set up camp had been enough to make all of them a little paranoid for the rest of the season.

Cats, though… cats were nice. She hadn’t known upon their arrival that Zaofu had any, but a few days after they had been set up in a nice house in Zaofu’s central dome (“Closest to Beifong and her guards if she decides we need to be put down,” Ming-Hua had hissed, and she couldn’t say Ming-Hua was wrong), she had noticed a cat nosing around their porch, a short-hair with patchy grey fur and eyes an indeterminate gold-green color. It didn’t look sick, or even particularly bedraggled, but it was definitely on the thin side, and they had been provided with so much food that it had only seemed a small luxury to go and retrieve some canned turtle crab from their pantry and lay it out in a bowl on the porch steps.

The cat had beelined for the bowl immediately, though it had puffed up and hissed if she got within ten feet, so she contented herself with crouching down on the other side of the porch and watching as it finished off the turtle crab in what had to be record time. It had left immediately afterwards, but had returned the next day. It had seemed like it would be something like breaking a promise to not feed it again, so she had–leftover turkey duck from dinner the night before, this time–and again it had eaten quickly, keeping an eye on her the whole time. And so the pattern had continued for about a week, the cat allowing her a little closer every day until she was finally allowed one morning to run a hand through its surprisingly soft fur. It had deigned to stick around for a few minutes longer until she finished stroking it to its satisfaction, and she herself spent the rest of the day in a better mood than usual.

The next day, it brought a friend. That was over three months ago now, and her impromptu colony of cats had grown to seven strong, and she was beginning to think it had only stopped there because there were no cats left in the dome to join. 

An afternoon tea with Aiwei had elicited the information that the cats were kept around to deal with potential pests, but most of Zaofu’s food was stored in another dome, so the need for pest control in the central dome was minimal. He had clearly known why she was asking, but beyond a mild request to not overfeed them to the point that they grew fat and useless, there had been no attempt made to stop her from continuing to lay out food for them every day. She had been more relieved than she was willing to examine very closely (no matter how heavily Suyin had hinted about all of them seeing one of Zaofu’s resident therapists, thus far only Ghazan had taken her up on it, though she and Ming-Hua had at least consented to pay a few visits to an acupuncturist Aiwei recommended). She hadn’t set out to get attached, but Peach, Cherry, Lychee, Strawberry, Papaya, Fig, and Pomegranate (“Are you gathering pets or ingredients for a balanced breakfast?” had been a joke she’d only allowed twice before she began letting an edge creep into her polite smile, but somehow ‘fruit salad’ had stuck on as the collective nickname for them anyway; she blamed Ghazan) were soft and affectionate and stalwart companions, which placed them above 99% of humanity as far as she was concerned.

Moreover, they were the only ones willing to lounge outside with her during the hottest parts of summer. These days, it seemed like the only thing she wanted to do in the afternoons was nap, and she appreciated the company.


End file.
